Canadian father held hostage by Taliban says captors killed his daughter and raped his wife

A US-Canadian couple say their infant daughter was killed during their five-year confinement by a Taliban-linked extremist group in Afghanistan.

Joshua Boyle

Joshua Boyle (left), wife Caitlain Coleman and their two sons, 4 and 2, and newborn daughter returned to Canada after being held hostage by the Taliban. Source: Getty Images

Former hostage Joshua Boyle says the Haqqani network in Afghanistan killed his infant daughter and raped his wife during the years they were held in captivity.

Mr Boyle gave the statement shortly after landing in Canada late Friday with his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, and three young children.

The couple was rescued on Wednesday, five years after they had been abducted by the Taliban-linked extremist group while in Afghanistan as part of a backpacking trip.
Ms Coleman was pregnant at the time and had four children in captivity.

The birth of the fourth child had not been publicly known before Mr Boyle appeared before journalists at the Toronto airport.

"The stupidity and evil of the Haqqani network's kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorising the murder of my infant daughter," he said.
Caitlan Coleman Joshua Boyle
Caitlan Coleman talks in a video while Canadian husband Joshua Boyle holds their two children in a video released by the Taliban in 2016. Source: Taliban Media/AAP
Mr Boyle said his wife was raped by a guard who was assisted by his superiors. He asked for the Afghan government to bring them to justice.

He said he was in Afghanistan to help villagers "who live deep inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan where no NGO, no aid worker and no government has ever successfully been able to bring the necessary help".

He added one of his children is in poor health and had to be force-fed by their Pakistani rescuers.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria said the Pakistani raid that led to the family's rescue was based on a tip from US intelligence, and shows that Pakistan will act against a "common enemy" when Washington shares information.



US officials have long accused Pakistan of ignoring groups like the Haqqani network, which was holding the family.

On Friday, President Donald Trump, who previously warned Pakistan to stop harbouring militants, praised Pakistan for its "cooperation on many fronts".

The operation appeared to have unfolded quickly and ended with what some described as a dangerous raid, a shootout and a captor's final, terrifying threat to "kill the hostage".

Mr Boyle told his parents he, his wife and their children were intercepted by Pakistani forces while being transported in the back or trunk of their captors' car and that some of his captors were killed.

He suffered only a shrapnel wound, his family said.

Mr Boyle's father said his son did not want to board the plane because it was headed to Bagram Air Base and the family wanted to return directly to North America.

Another US official said Mr Boyle was nervous about being in "custody" given his family ties.

He was once married to Zaynab Khadr, the older sister of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr and the daughter of a senior al-Qaida financier.

The US Justice Department said neither Mr Boyle nor Ms Coleman is wanted for any federal crime.

US officials call the Haqqani group a terrorist organisation and have targeted its leaders with drone strikes.

But the group also operates like a criminal network. Unlike the Islamic State group, it does not typically execute Western hostages, preferring to ransom them for cash.

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